After their near-death experience with some hungry lions, Senku and Taiju are saved by the strongest middle-schooler pre-petrification. Shishio Tsukasa ends up becoming Senku’s foil and sworn rival, and when it is revealed that they both want to create civilization, conflict ensues due to clashing beliefs. Tsukasa decides that the only way to ensure that his vision for society is realized is for him to murder Senku. He seemingly kills Senku; however, Senku’s brilliance and willingness to bet everything on a single risky factor makes all the difference. Tsukasa goes for the instant kill, aiming for the nape of Senku’s neck; however, Senku had forged a habit of cracking his neck, a habit he’d never had prior to their petrification. When the distraught Yuzuriha and Taiju investigate, they find a fragment of petrification on Senku’s neck and use his revival fluid on the area, hence reconstructing the cells in Senku’s neck and leading to his revival.

Senku decides that his best bet at creating a nation of science would be to continue his work while using his apparent death as a cover. He sends Yuzuriha and Taiju to infiltrate the Tsukasa Empire and work from within, while Senku decides to head elsewhere to start his nation of science. He soon finds a young woman trapped under heavy trees, so he uses his mind to work out a way to free her. Having revealed that she has met Tsukasa, the woman is wary of Senku but after seeing how he helped her out of her predicament with nothing but his mind and the materials around him, she takes an interest in him. She introduces herself as Kohaku, one of a few humans who does not seem to be of the vast human race that experienced petrification. At this point, the Dr Stone world grew immensely.

When Senku and Taiju are working hard to survive, as well as to synthesize revival fluid to bring back the scores of people in their vicinity who were petrified, they are attacked by a group of hungry lions. With no chance of survival, Taiju tells Senku about the legendary middle-schooler said to be the strongest of them all: Shishio Tsukasa. With no alternatives, Senku dumps the little bit of revival fluid they had on the petrified Tsukasa, which revives him. Upon his revival, he calmly asks them, “What is the situation?” before killing a lion with a single punch!

During the early stages of the Village Arc, Senku had managed to convince Chrome to assist him in his science. His goal was to create a generator, one which would provide electricity. He manages to elicit the help of the village guards Kinro and Ginro, and with Tsukasa Empire spy Asagiri Gen in the audience, Senku’s hard work pays off as he makes the stone world’s first ever electric light bulb. The sight of the bright light in the dead of night prompts one of the only genuine reactions from Asagiri that we’ve seen in the series thus far.

Dr Stone presents a tournament arc in the village where Kohaku lives. The winner is to be betrothed to Kohaku’s sister, Ruri, the village priestess. In order to win and gain true leverage in the village for the sake of the nation of science, Senku’s ragtag crew needed to find someone capable of defeating Magma, the strongest man in the village, in combat. Kinro turns out to be their saviour, initially suffering a barrage of attacks due to the simple fact that he is near-sighted. Having had her vision cured by Senku’s manufacturing of glassware, Suika does something amazing – tossing her now glass-eyed helmet in Kinro’s direction. He jumps dramatically and intercepts the helmet, catching it perfectly on his head. With his vision no longer impared, Kinro lays a hefty and satisfying barrage of attacks on Magma, but it isn’t necessarily enough to win…